


ice skating headaches and sweet coffee (seriously the ratio of cream and sugar to coffee shouldn't be half and half that's ridiculous)

by emeraldcitydowntowngirl



Category: Bandom, Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bisexual Character, Coming Out, Ice Skating, M/M, Multi, Winter, bisexuality is valid guys!, but i never think i do good with anything so, even though im bi myself i dont think i did a good job with this, finding out sexualities, focused mostly on pete, not really the relationship, pete jerks off thinking about gabe? idk what i was thinking either.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 16:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8674492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldcitydowntowngirl/pseuds/emeraldcitydowntowngirl
Summary: It only takes a guy with a green jacket, ugly glasses, and a hat with a little puff on the top to make Pete question his sexuality. (OR: Patrick's an ice skating instructor, Pete's in love, and it takes all of Pete's friends to get him to work up the courage to talk to him. But it all works out in the end)





	

It’s not that ice-skating is a horrible pastime… it’s just that Pete would rather _not_ go ice-skating.

“Come on, Pete! The rest of us really wanna go, it’ll be fun!” Greta exclaims, taking a sip of hot chocolate. They’re all bundled up, because winter in Chicago is always deathly cold- between the wind and the freezing temperatures, there’s no winning there. Winter used to be Pete’s favorite season- it’s so dark and depressing and he kinda thrives on that- but now he misses spring. He misses the flowers outside, and the rainy weather. 

“Okay, but I have pot at home. And I’d rather be inside and smoking than freezing my balls off and ice skating.” Pete notes, and Vicky rolls her eyes. “Okay, normally I’m always down for pot, but… the pot isn’t going anywhere. Right, Gabe?”

Now, Gabe would normally be on Pete’s side- but now that he and Vicky are fucking, it’s different. Before Gabe even opens his mouth, Pete knows his response. “Yeah, Pete. It’ll be, er, fun… I guess. We can make fun of all of the kids falling down and crying.”

Vicky blinks, and turns to look at him.  “You’re a sadist. Holy shit.”

“It’s just funny!” “No, it’s not!”

Pete looks over to William to save him from this disaster but William just shrugs at him. “Give it, like, 10 minutes. Everyone’s gonna get bored of skating around in a circle, and they’re gonna play shitty music, and then we can go over to yours. It’s not the end of the world.”

“It’s just gonna-“ before he can finish his sentence, Vicky holds up a hand, to get him to stop talking. “It’s 4 to 1, dumbass. Put your jacket on, we’re going skating!”

* * *

While both Greta and Bill knew how to ice skate (“Woah, I knew Bill could skate, but you too Greta?” “Gabe, I know pretty much everything.” “True- she’s _Greta_.” “Yeah, I’m _Greta_.”), Vicky, Gabe, and Pete were left to pretty much figure it out themselves. And there was nothing scarier than wearing shoes that had a blade in the center of them and trying to balance on fucking _ice_.

“So, I don’t get it.” Pete says, clutching the lapel on Gabe’s jacket. For someone who isn’t dating Gabe, Pete keeps clutching to him- he’s the one with the most balance, after all. “If none of you know how to skate, why did you even agree?”

“For the experience, Pete! You can’t waste your life away writing shitty poetry.” Vicky says, behind them. She’s managing pretty well- she’s only pushing off the corner of the rink, but she’s not totally dependent on it anymore. Same with Gabe- it’s only Pete who has to constantly hang on to Gabe so that he doesn’t fall onto the ice.

“My poetry isn’t… okay, whatever, but- I’m scared for my life. I already fell, like, 9 times.”

“We know, dude.” Gabe says, sighing, “We were there.”

Pete scowls at his response, and he looks over to Greta and Bill, who are skating by themselves, laughing about something. Probably about Pete. “I hope they fall.”

“You’re so _fucking annoying_. Like, why can’t you let anyone have fun?” Vicky snaps at him, and Pete replies back, just as quickly, “Cause this is boring! And-“

He doesn’t finish his sentence- not because he doesn’t have a lot to say, because he does, but because his eyes land on pretty much the most perfect guy he’s ever seen in his life.

He has long hair- up to his shoulders long. And he’s skating with a bunch of kids- maybe he’s an instructor? He’s wearing a green jacket and he has these really ugly glasses, and he’s wearing a hat with a little puff on the top, and he looks like an idiot. But he looks over to Pete, and they make eye-contact for a second. He smiles at Pete before he returns his attention back to one of the kids.

Pete turns back to Vicky, and he looks at her with wide eyes. “Nevermind. I wanna keep skating.”

* * *

“Wait, I’m a little confused.  You’re not gay.” Gabe says to him, about 30 minutes later. After Gabe fell (bringing Pete down with him), and he started bleeding, everyone decided to call it a day. He's only really bleeding because of the impact of Pete's head against his nose- there's a bruise on the side of Gabe's face from hitting the ice, though. Vicky's been fussing over it since they got out, even though she was the one who was laughing the most when he fell. 

“I could be gay.” Pete says, and Bill shakes his head. “No, Pete. You can’t—you can’t decide you wanna be gay. I’ve tried it the other way, it doesn’t work.”

“I’m not—I mean, am I really straight?” Pete asks, and all of his friends give him exasperated looks. Pete crosses his arms over his chest, and he huffs, “I do like girls. Girls are… girls, you know? But why can’t I like guys too!? I mean, I’d suck off Gabe. You too, Bill”

“I’d suck you off too, bro!” Gabe exclaims, while Bill just looks a little creeped out. Vicky elbows Gabe in the gut after his comment, before she glares at Pete. “Okay, no, it doesn’t—no, Pete! You’re not gay. _Bill_ is gay. You’re straight.”

They stop walking when they reach the traffic light, and Pete tugs his jacket closer to him as he shivers. “What is sexuality anyways?”

Bill groans, under his breath (but in a way that Pete’s supposed to hear), “Oh, my God. _No_ , Pete. Just—no! Sexuality isn’t just ‘oh, this guy is cute, now I’m gay!’”

Greta’s been pretty quiet, but she pipes up. “Cut him some slack, guys. I mean, maybe he’s bi? I think sexuality is fluid, like sometimes… I mean, girls are… I mean, I don’t know! Maybe Pete’s really questioning himself and we’re just shutting him down.”

Greta’s face flushes red after she says what she has to say, and she looks down at her shoes when Bill lets out a loud sigh. When the light turns green and they all walk across the street, a new topic has come up- but Greta and Pete share a glance as the subject changes, and Pete feels a sudden flash of panic in the middle of his chest. _Okay, maybe I am gay. Or bisexual. Or something._

* * *

Pete’s parents don’t let girls into his room. So, Greta and Pete sit in the living room together, on the floor by the coffee table. They’re eating some leftover cake from Andrew’s birthday party, and there’s some Tegan and Sara ("Closer") playing on the TV from one of the channels that plays music nonstop. The fire by the fireplace warms up the room, but they keep their shoes and jackets on- pink Uggs for Greta and ugly rain boots for Pete- he hates when his shoes get wet and his socks get soaked. 

“I think that… I mean, we aren’t so different. Er, sexuality wise, I think.” Greta says to him- she looks very uncomfortable. Greta and Pete aren’t the tightest friends in their group, so Pete gets it, the weirdness of talking about something so personal. Even his heart begins to beat a little faster, and his palms get sweaty. 

“I mean… sometimes I think about kissing girls. But then the next day, or even 10 minutes later, I think about kissing guys too. And I have crushes on both genders, you know, like the way I feel about guys is pretty identical if not stronger when I think about girls, and I just… um, sorry, this is kinda weird, I haven’t really talked about it with anyone else. Besides Bill, but you know how Bill is.” She says, picking at the frosting on the cake. Pete knows how Bill is-  he's great but he's quick to judge. 

“Yeah, I know. I think he’s just pissed cause he thinks that, like, you have a choice. Like when it comes down to the basics.” Pete offers, and Greta grits her teeth a little.

“I _don’t_ , though. But sure. I guess. I don’t know, it’s hard to talk to him about it. And Vicky is Vicky, and I mean-“ she pauses, “don’t tell her this. But I mean, I kinda have a... I’m not gonna act on it. Obviously. But you know, Vicky is… hot. And she’s nice and she’s so _straight_. I like her and Gabe together, though. I don't wanna break them up. But she's so... _Vicky_.”

Pete nods, taking a bite of his cake. “I won’t tell, trust me. But yeah, I know! Not about Vicky, but like… like today. I saw that guy and I felt like it was love at first sight or something, I never felt like that before. Not even with Ash or Meagan or anything, I just wanted to kiss him. And guys are attractive, but I thought that was just me, I mean, guys can acknowledge people being hot without gay. But maybe it’s not just a—I mean, maybe it’s something more.”

There’s a lot of awkward pauses and lots of backtracking- but Pete feels a sense of relief, talking to Greta. The more they talk, the more assured Pete feels- and Greta loosens up a little, too. “I don’t think there has to be a tragic backstory,” Greta says, “I think that… you know who you are. And if you find a label that describes you, you don’t have to go through hell and back trying to accept it. With Bill, he… I can’t talk to him about it because he just dismisses me like what I feel is a phase. And it’s not.”

 _Maybe it’s just a phase_ , Pete thinks to himself, and he frowns. 

“Yeah.” Pete says eventually, and Greta takes another bite of cake. “Yeah.”

* * *

Watching gay porn was… something else. He almost turns it off- not because it’s gross, but because he can envision Green Jacket Boy’s smile and he can imagine Green Jacket Boy moaning above him. But he watches it anyways, and it’s not weird, kinda, like, he doesn’t feel like a changed person. The dicks look the same as they do in straight porn. There's just two of them now. 

After he shuts his phone off, he gets under the covers, and he thinks for a while, just about it...

...and then he jerks off and thinks about Gabe, for lack of a better person. Gabe’s hands on his body, pressing down on his throat, Gabe inside of him, Gabe’s hands on his wrists, Gabe saying something stupid and making Pete laugh in the middle of it, Gabe biting his neck and pulling his hair.

Yeah, Pete’s definitely not straight- he decides this as he wipes cum off of his stomach with a tissue and a grimace.

* * *

“Dude, we should go skating.” Pete says, over the phone after school the Tuesday after the whole incident on Saturday. He told Greta the _thing_ about him jerking off to Gabe- she laughs at him, but she tells him that she gets it, so that makes him feel a little better about it. 

Gabe grumbles over the phone, sounding tired. Pete glances at the time, and he groans internally. He probably woke Gabe up from a nap, and now he’s gonna be in a bad mood.

“Why? So we can stare at the guy you like?” He asks, in a pissy mood- just like Pete predicted.

“Well, no. Maybe. I don’t know. I have to talk to you. I’ll bring some weed and we can get high after we go if you want. I’ll pay Hil to watch Andrew, my parents aren’t home right now.” He offers. His parents work late pretty much everyday- and his curfew on school nights is 9, anyways. It's only 6, although it feels like 11, what with how dark it is outside. 

Gabe hums happily, “Let’s do that, yeah. But there’s no fucking way I’m walking. I’ll drive over in a couple of minutes and—oh, dude, bring some Hot Cheetos. Hot Cheetos are so good.”

About 15 minutes later, Pete runs out of his house wearing a thick jacket and his hat that has the ears on them that make him look like a bear. He’s all bundled up, and he has a huge bag of Hot Cheetos with him. When he reaches Gabe’s car, the doors unlock, and he throws the bag in the back of the car, before he steps into the passenger seat. The heat is blasting, and so is "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M.- Gabe is a weird guy. He can go from religious Jewish kid to neon frat dude-bro to the most depressing person Pete knows in flat seconds. 

“Dude, I gotta talk to you.” Pete says, turning down the music, and Gabe glances at him, putting on his signal and pulling out of the spot that he parked in. “About the bisexual thing?”

“Well… yeah. I mean, it’s not weird, right? You and Bill are still friends, this doesn’t… I mean, this is cool, right?” Us? Pete asks, and Gabe rolls his eyes at Pete. “Dude, yes. I don’t care about who you wanna fuck, you’re my best friend. I was just confused that day because you and Ashlee…” He trails off, and he whistles lowly. It’s Pete’s turn to roll his eyes- he refuses to think about what he knows Gabe is referring to. But he thinks about it anyways- Ashlee's hot breath on his neck, the feeling of her nails scratching down his back.

“Whatever.” He says, turning up the volume and changing the song to "Losing My Religion". Gabe smirks to himself at Pete's reaction, but then he puts on another serious face when they reach a red light, and he looks over.

“Like... I don’t care about what gender you're into, just as long as you’re happy, bro. Cause whatever makes you happy, makes me happy, bro.”

“ _Bro_.” Pete says, with feeling, totally mocking Gabe. He pretends to wipe away a tear, and Gabe laughs, taking one hand off the wheel to shove Pete. “Shut up!”

* * *

His name is Patrick.

Green Jacket Boy is named Patrick- Pete finds this out because he’s super creepy, and ‘skated’ (he says this very loosely- he was hanging onto Gabe hanging onto the sides again) close to the kids that Patrick was teaching.

He’s so sweet with kids, he’s patient and kind, and God, he can skate so well. He looks all cozy in the Pom-Pom hat and the green jacket, and he occasionally looks over to Gabe and Pete and gives them odd-but-well-mannered smiles. Every time he does this, Pete squeaks like a 13 year old girl with a dumb crush, and Gabe has to hide it with a cough.

"Okay, this needs to end. Now. Skate over there and say hi to him." Gabe demands, after the 10th or so squeak. Pete shakes his head, and he looks over to Patrick smiling at one of the younger girls who just skated around in a circle without falling. "I can't. Fuck. His face is so perfect. He's probably not a questioning bisexual, like me. And I can't skate over there- I can't skate at all!"

"Then how are you ever gonna talk to him outside of the rink? Are you gonna wait till his class is done? Or pretend to be one of their parents?" He asks sarcastically, but then a light bulb goes off in Pete's head. Gabe groans, probably figuring out that Pete had an idea just from his facial expression.

"Oh fuck, don't pretend to be one of their parents. You look like a 13 year old and you're 5 feet tall, you can't pass as a parent at all."

"Chill! I'm just gonna convince my Mom to get Andrew into one of the classes, I'm not that weird! Also, I'm 5'6!" Pete whines, and Gabe shakes his head. "Nope, it's official, you're fucking insane. And you're, like, 5 foot 3, don't flatter yourself."

* * *

"Mommy-" Pete begins to say, before he winces a little- he's 17, there's no reason for him to call his mother that. But he can't help it, and it would probably help his case, so he continues, "I was thinking."

"You're always thinking. And eating." His mother says, over a pot of chicken noodle soup. But she says it with a smile on her face- Pete can't see it, but he can hear it in her voice. So he smiles too. "I can't help it! Anyways, I was thinking... Sometimes my friends and I go skating, and it sucks, cause I don't know how to skate. So I have to cling onto Gabe, and I look like a total idiot."

She grabs a ladle, and she hums in response to what Pete says, a sign that Pete should continue. 

"And I was thinking, right, that maybe I should sign Andrew up for some lessons. Y'know, so that when he's older, he'll know how to skate."

She snorts a little in response, (another) sign that she knows Pete's bullshitting her, but he just continues to babble anyways because he has to see Patrick. Talk to Patrick. Somehow date him and get married to him and have, like, 9 kids with him. And a dog. "I-I'll pay for his lessons! I have money from tutoring, and Gabe and I will drive him there! Well, Gabe will drive him, he agrees that Andrew should learn to skate too, and I'll sit in the passenger seat and observe, so that I don't crash the car again."

She ladles out some of the soup into a bowl, and she turns around, handing the bowl to Pete. She opens one of the drawers, and hands him a spoon, before she leans her elbows on the counter across him and sighs. "Well, if you're willing to pay for it, and you can get a ride, I don't see why not. All you have to do is convince Andrew."

" _Shit_." Pete mutters under his breath, pressing the heel of his hand into his eyes a little- fucking _Andrew_. His mother laughs, turning back around to ladle out more soup. "Don't curse, Peter. It's not becoming of a gentleman."

* * *

The thing about Andrew is that Andrew is... well, Andrew is the worst. He's the most stubborn 9 year old in the world, and Pete knows for a fact that he would rather stay home and play on his DS or watch Teen Titans than go fucking ice skating. Thankfully, Pete knows the easiest way to get Andrew to agree.

Victoria.

Andrew is pretty much in love with Victoria- it's kind of funny, especially since Victoria swears back and forth that it's not true and that he probably just likes her because she's nice. 

Since Pete doesn't drive and neither does Vicky, they're stuck walking. And Gabe has basketball after school, and Greta and Bill have the musical- they're on their own. Pete's pretty close to Vicky, but not close enough to tell her that he had a sex dream about her boyfriend that one time- so he doesn't talk about his sexuality, even though that's been hammering away at the front of his brain. He wants to scream it at the top of his lungs- that he doesn't think he's straight. But he keeps quiet.

It's actually Vicky that brings it up, right after they finish discussing the latest episode of Supernatural (they both agree- it should have ended at Season 5). "So... how's the sexuality thing going for you?"

It's hard to read Vic- but he can tell she's being sincere, because she's not grinning at him like she knows something he doesn't, and she's not crossing her arms like she's pissed. Her headphones are out of her ears, and there's something in the way that she looks at him through her bangs that makes him spill all of his fucking guts. "I'm bisexual. And... and I jerked off thinking about Gabe and that kinda solidified it, and I'm really sorry, I'm never gonna come onto Gabe, I swear, I'm too in love with someone who doesn't know my name, but holy shit, I'm so into guys. I'm so into guys."

Vicky raises her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "You jerked off thinking about Gabe? Hot. Tell me about it.", and then she says, quieter but way more genuine, "but seriously, I'm glad that you're figuring it out. Really. You can always talk to me about it if, like, Greta and Gabe are busy." She says, Pete bumps his shoulder with hers, smiling a little, giddy with relief, "You totally aren't my third choice. I just didn't wanna say anything because... _Gabe_. That's your boyfriend."

"Well, I know that Gabe would never leave _me_ for _you_ , so..." she says, and Pete leans over to laugh in her shoulder- he both hates and loves Vicky's brutal honesty.

(And not that Pete doubted that it was gonna work, but it really only took Vicky to bat her eyelashes and say ' _I think ice skating would be fun, Andrew_!' for Andrew to agree. Pete owes her his entire life)

* * *

Pete walks to sign Andrew up for lessons by himself- it's one of those days, one where his brain goes into overdrive, and talking seems like too much. But not talking and thinking is too much too- everything gets jumbled up until he doesn't know what he's doing. So, he's just blasting music until he can't think and he can only follow lights and street signs. He taps a beat on his jeans, and his teeth chatter, and his fingers in his gloves freeze anyways. It's so fucking cold. He hates being cold. His eyes practically glaze over, and he has to shake himself awake while he walks. People who walk in front of him turn around to give him weird looks, the kid with the bear hat and the loud music, but he can't see them.  He just wants to be home and in bed, and jerking off, but not jerking off about Gabe. Cause that's weird. 

Life would be a lot easier if he were straight. Not even because of Patrick. Mostly because he feels like creep preying on his friends. And Bill is pissed at him, even if he doesn't admit it. And also his parents would probably hate him. Maybe that moment with his mother, her handing him a bowl of soup because he asked for some, maybe that will never happen again. Maybe everyone in the soccer team will think he's been staring at them, and he hasn't, really, it's just-

He sighs, pulling his headphones off when he gets to the ice rink. It's not much warmer in there than outside, but he gets hit with woosh of coffee and pretzels from the stands over in the corner, next to where you pick up the ice skates, and he immediately feels a little better. If it wasn't that, it'd be Patrick sitting with a magazine at the desk-set-up, where people pay to skate. Pete's heart immediately goes into over-drive, and he practically lurches forward to where Patrick is. 

"Hi," Pete says, a little loudly. There's ringing in his ears from the music, and Pete can't really hear, but Patrick doesn't seem that phased by it. He lifts his head up from looking at his magazine, and he says in a voice that doesn't really sound like his real voice. "Hi, how can I help you?"

And then he gives Pete another look, and he says, a lot more 'Patrick' (not that Pete really has that much to go on) "Oh, hey! You're, um. That guy!"

Pete's not sure what that means- but he tries to keep himself from doing a happy dance right there and then at the fact that Patrick remembered him. "Uh, yeah. I guess! I, um, wanted to know if you guys still had, like, sign ups for lessons."

Patrick frowns a little, "Well, we don't really offer classes for teenagers, but-" and then Pete shakes his head, "No! I mean, it's not for me, it's for my little brother. Sorry."

Patrick nods, in understandment. "Oh, gotcha. Sorry, it's just that..." he trails off, but Pete supplies it for him, "I suck at skating?"

"Well... yeah. I was kinda surprised to see you the other day, cause you and your, um, friend were like... clinging to the bars the entire time." He says, ducking his head to laugh a little- Pete loves his laugh, even if Patrick's laughing at _him_. 

"Yeah, we were just... well, it doesn't really... we came for the coffee." Pete blurts, and Patrick gives him a skeptical look. "Really? The coffee kinda sucks. It's way too sweet."

"I like sweet coffee- when it's bitter, it's just gross." Pete says, and Patrick shakes his head, his long hair moving with it- "Nah. Black coffee is the best, it wakes you up in an instant. But even when I'm in the mood for some cream and sugar, it's just... like a sensory overload. I don't know."

Pete shrugs- he has never tasted the coffee from the ice rink, that was a total bullshit lie, but now he's gonna have to if he's gonna keep up with the lie that he went there for coffee instead of to just ogle at Patrick. Patrick takes the momentary silence as a cue to get the sign up sheet, and he pushes it over to Pete. "Here, there's a couple of slots left-" "Are there any for you?"

An awkward silence.

"I mean... when my friend and I came here, for the coffee, obviously, we, um, I mean, you're really good with kids. And my little brother is super stubborn and hardly listens to people he doesn't like. So I just figured..." 

"It's cool," Patrick says, before he takes a pen from a mug, and he circles a bunch of time-slots. "These are all mine. I practically live here during the winter." Patrick hands Pete the pen, and Pete takes it, writing Andrew's name down in a couple of them, before he hands the pen back, along with his credit card. Patrick counts up how many lessons, punches in a number in the cash register, swipes Pete's card, and he hands it back to Pete as Pete says, "It's cool- I practically live at the pool where I lifeguard during the summer."

"How ironic," Patrick smiles a little at Pete, and for the first time, Pete begins to think that Patrick might be a little interested in him too. He's not sure why, but he's totally not complaining. "You don't know how to skate and I don't know how to swim."

Pete doesn't know what to say- but Patrick blushes after a moment, and only then does Pete realize he's probably been staring at Patrick with the biggest heart eyes. "We give lessons to everyone at the pool, I could totally teach you to swim. When it's summer. Not now. Obviously." 

Patrick nods, still staring up at Pete. "Yeah. Uh. Yeah, that'd be- yeah."

"Okay." Pete says, and Patrick echoes that- "Okay."

* * *

The sexuality thing still eats at his brain, but after he sorta screams with glee over the phone with Greta on the way home from the ice rink, it's like... he doesn't fucking care. He's bi. He's a bisexual, and that's that, and there's nothing that anyone, not even Bill, can say about it. He feels on top of the world- but that's because he's on a high after he and Patrick had a moment. They had a _fucking_ moment. 

He bursts into Hilary's room when he gets home, and he screams at her, so loud that Hemingway barks at him from downstairs. "I'm bi!"

She looks over to him with an exasperated look. "Congrats. I'm in the middle of book. But yay you, I guess." and she gives him a thumb up.

And well, that's good enough. He jumps around in his room, and hugs his pillow, and he's totally aware that he looks like an idiot, and yet... that doesn't stop him.

* * *

The 'bisexual thing' remains awesome for a while. Pete has never felt 100% comfortable in his skin, and probably never will, but this makes it better- he likes labels sometimes. And this is one of those times. He talks to Greta about it, and he keeps that high, right until he sees William's car outside of his house the night of the first lesson, and not Gabe's.

Andrew is already putting on his shoes, and Pete knows that they're right on time- if they walked, they'd be late, and then Patrick would probably think badly of him, and, no, Pete doesn't want that.

Suddenly, that crushing feeling in his lungs comes back. Screw him for being happy about being bisexual- William has been struggling with sexuality his whole life, and Pete jumps in joy because of it? He wants to lock himself in his room and write about all of the shit that's beginning to pile up in his mind, but then Andrew tug on his jacket, and he crosses his arms. "Your friend is outside, stupid. Let's go."

When they get to William's car, William greets Pete with a small, reassuring smile, "I, um, I asked Gabe if I could take you guys. I kinda wanted to talk to you."

Pete doesn't feel so reassured. He feels like puking his dinner out on the pavement just to get out of this. But he sits in the passenger seat anyways, and tosses his iPod over to Andrew. "Don't blow your ear-drums out and don't repeat any of the words that you hear on any of the bad songs, got it?"

Andrew doesn't respond, he just shoves the headphones in his ears, and looks out the window. Bill laughs a little, and turns to look at Pete. "So... I've been a dick to you. And Greta. But mostly you."

Pete doesn't respond. He just kinda sulks in the seat a little, nodding. "Yeah, kinda. You're allowed to be pissed about it though, I mean, you... I just kinda came in and made it seem easy."

Bill frowns, shaking his head. "Maybe because it's easy for you. It wasn't and still isn't easy for me, but I realized that I shouldn't, like, totally deny you and tell you that you're something that you aren't. Because my family tries to do that to me, and I hate it." He sighs a little, and Pete stays quiet, so he continues. "And I was talking to Greta, and she's right- just because it wasn't a big deal doesn't mean that you're, like, invalid. And instead of being happy for you, I was a total fucking dick. So... I'm sorry." He says. "You might not believe me, but I really am happy that you're figuring yourself out, and that you're pursing this Patrick thing, and I know I've been a shitty friend, but... yeah."

"It's okay, Bill," Pete says, already beginning to feel a little better. "Thanks, man. And you weren't being a shitty friend, kinda, you just... okay, well, you apologized, so apology accepted."

William grins, and he claps his hands a little, even though he's still driving. "Yay! Now, let's talk about that sex dream or whatever that you had about Gabe- Vicky told me about it, but she didn't tell me the details, and-" 

Pete feels like burying his head in his hands and never looking up- but he's still so fucking grateful that William doesn't hate him, and that he apologized, that Pete just indulges him- since their whole group knows about it anyways. 

(He's also super fucking grateful Andrew didn't pay attention to him, and he kept the music up on the highest setting. If Andrew heard Pete talking about getting fucked by Gabe, Pete would probably never be able to look at him again)

* * *

Pete does homework while Andrew has his lesson- if there's one thing he's not going to attempt, it's skate without someone to hold onto. He supposes one day he should learn for real, just to impress Patrick, but then he looks down at his English textbook, and no, that can definitely wait. 

One thing that he does do, though, is grab a coffee half way through. And Patrick was not lying- it's so sweet that Pete's face scrunches up, and he has to force himself to swallow it down. It tastes like liquid sugar, which normally Pete isn't opposed to, but it's in the form of coffee, something that just isn't meant too _too_ sweet. He finishes it just because he spent 3 bucks on it, and it'll keep him awake as he reads "The Swimmer".

He doesn't really look over to Patrick-he doesn't wanna seem over-bearing, and again, he has so much homework. So, when the lesson is over, it almost takes Pete by surprise. Andrew comes running to him, with a bruise on his cheek, and he stomps on Pete's shoes. "I hate this!" Andrew yells, and Pete groans in pain- he's not wearing the shoes with the blades in the center but it still fucking hurts. And he almost shoves Andrew away, but then he sees the green jacket, and he decides to act on his best behavior- this includes not shoving his little brother.

"Oh, wow. You weren't lying. You actually like the coffee." Patrick says, eyeing the empty coffee cup. Pete shrugs a little, closing his textbook and shoving it back in his bag. "Eh. It's okay... but, hey, maybewecangooutonedayandgetadecentcuptogether."

Patrick blinks at him, and he asks, "Wait, what?", but there's a faint smile on his face, like he just wants to hear Pete say it again. Andrew looks up at Pete confused, but that's probably because he wants to just get the hell home.

"Maybe we can, um, go out... like on a date, together, us, and get a decent cup of coffee. I mean, I like this coffee-" But Pete doesn't get to finish his sentence because Patrick says, quickly, with a huge, huge, huge smile on his face, "Pete, _yes_. I thought you'd never ask." 

So... in retrospect, a lot of good came out of going ice-skating that day-- Pete realized he wasn't straight, and he landed himself a date with the cutest skate instructor ever, with the green jacket, the ugly glasses, and the hat with the little puff on top. 

**Author's Note:**

> when i found out i was bi, it was kinda simple, just like greta + pete. so.. i kinda put that in there, just cause. this wasn't supposed to be a sexuality fic but i guess in a small way it kinda was? who knows! i just started listening to tegan and sara and then i was like "i lvoe being bi!" and then i kept thinking about being bi and then this kinda happened. kinda ironically too cause just 2 days ago i swore off writing forever after i had a crisis about how horrible everything abt it is! fun times w uma i guess 
> 
> anyways- pls comment if u liked it! or hit me up on tumblr @ travtrick if you want ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ i'll follow u back! 
> 
> also! not that anyone rlly cares but all of the music i listened 2 that got me out of my ban from writng is in the fic! tegan and sara, two door cinema club, and R.E.M... i owe u my life


End file.
